VERMILION BIRD

The Vermilion Bird (Chinese: 朱雀) is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. According to Wu Xing, the Taoist five-elemental system, it represents the fire-elemental, the direction of south, and the season summer correspondingly. Thus it is sometimes called the Vermilion Bird of the South. It is often mistaken for Fenghuang, but they are two different creatures. Fenghuang is the king of birds, while the Vermilion Bird is a mythological spirit creature of the Chinese constellations.